It’s a funny old country we live in - being seen at the Allsop auction is like being seen in the enclosure at Ballybrit.
Recently retired civil servants and folks who fancy themselves as the next Sean Fitzpatrick falling over themselves to buy property at Allsop. From what I’ve seen, the dregs that nobody wants are being sold off to the inexperienced and the wildly optimistic.
If you were a cash buyer in 2011/2012, Allsop was brilliant. Now, there’s nothing in the catalogue but odds and ends. All the nice property is owned by NAMA and/or put through the estate agencies for top dollar.
I’m surprised there weren’t a lot more such auctions over the last few years - it seems in Ireland if you don’t pay your debts, you get to hold on to your assets.
Without giving too much away, I know one guy who lives in a €4m gaff in Dublin (which he bought with his former socialite girlfriend). Hasn’t paid anything since 2007. Still living in it. I also know of a farmer in Waterford who “leveraged” his €30m farm and lost everything - he’s still farming away getting EU grants, etc. Then there are the 100,000s of “ordinary people” who have split mortgages and are on interest only - many are living in very large and comfortable dwellings. Their kids will have an inheritance of a giant duck egg to look forward to. I see my “younger” (mid 20s to mid 30s) colleagues who earn about €2k a month (after tax) and are paying rent of €1k (even more in some cases!). Don’t know why they even bother showing up to be honest. I wouldn’t.
It’s all utter madness. The arse is going to fall out of this economy.
I think Mantissa was asking the question ‘why’, rather than commenting that sex matters?
It is sort of strange alright. Maybe there are men there representing couples?
Perhaps you could get state funding to analyse the gender imbalance in post feminist contemporary society? In the evenings, you could go along to Mary Robinson foundation wine dos and volunteer for Ivana Bakic’s election campaign.
